


The Eve before New Life

by JeromeSankara



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes Feels, Domestic Fluff, Love, M/M, Male Pregnancy, Mpreg, Nesting, Nursery, Parenthood, Preparation, Rickyl Writers' Group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 19:11:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10725432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeromeSankara/pseuds/JeromeSankara
Summary: No one said that having a baby was easy. What they don't say is that the waiting is the hardest part.





	The Eve before New Life

Floorboards creaked with each heavy step of slippered feet, bunny ears flopping with every movement. They swept against the ground, creating more noise than he would have wished. Things had been so quiet in the house, and at night, it was near silent.

But not tonight.

The bunny slippers shuffled their way to the door, hesitated, before turning back. No, there was still stuff to do. The slippers retreated across the floor again, circling around the room one more time. Hands reached out and adjusted a few things sitting on the dresser, taking items and setting them somewhere else, then returning them within minutes.

There. Now it was ready.

...No, it wasn't.

The closet was opened this time, and he ruffled through the different clothing and items stuffed inside. Was it enough? Was it too much? Were the colors right? Blue eyes looked back to the room, and even in the darkness, he could just make out the color. Was the room the wrong color? Maybe they would have time to paint it. If he started right now, he could probably paint it and have it dry by the time they came back.

Yes, that was exactly what he needed to do. That was the reason everything felt off. Closing the closet with a sigh of relief, he abandoned it to shuffle his way across the floor. Now where did he hide the paints... They had a few different shades that they didn't use. Maybe a shade lighter...

...But then it would clash against the furniture.

His body jolted to a stop with the realization, and discomfort rose up his throat. Okay, new plan. Replace the furniture first. Make sure that the new furniture would match the new paint, then-.... No, it wouldn't do. They just had to start completely over. Take everything out, throw it out, and go to the furniture store first thing in the morning. When did they open? Eight? No, that was coming too close.

New plan. Throw out the furniture, paint the entire room all over again, go pick up new furniture, and maybe pay someone else to unpack it while they were gone. Yes, perfect. It was a perfect plan.

...Now about the clothes-

"...Daryl?"

Light pooled in through the open door that led out into the hall, right across from their own room. He winced at the light, having been hoping that staying in the dark would not alert his partner. But he must have woken up again... Sheepishly he turned his head back to the open doorway, fiddling with the thick poncho over his body as if to prove to his partner that he was properly warm and dressed.

"...What're yah doing up? We don't gotta be up for six more hours..." Daryl mumbled, slowly turning to his husband. His arms were crossed over his stomach in a swift movement, his hands twisting into each other with nervousness. He didn't want to sit still, he wanted to keep working...! They had to get it done!

"Woke up and you weren't there... Didn't know if something happened..." Rick said with a soft sigh, rubbing his eyes to try to rid the tiredness. It wouldn't be a secret to say that sleep was hard to come by. They were almost always pacing across the house, anxious, trying to make sure nothing would go wrong... They had done practice drills in case of an emergency, gone over routes, had everything they needed on speed dial, just in case he...

"Where else would I be," Daryl muttered in reply, slowly straightening his body with a slight groan. His hand twisted into the thick poncho, and almost immediately, Rick was at his side. He nearly felt bad for making him worried, seeing his eyes grow wide as they did so many times before as his strong arms soon surrounded him, searching for the cause of his pain.

"'M fine, 'm fine... It's nothin'..."

"Are you sure? We could go. If something feels wrong, you know we can go, even if you're not sure, we-"

"Could you fuckin' _shut up?_ If this is what I have to deal with tomorrow, your ass is waiting outside."

No, Daryl didn't feel guilty about making him stress, now. Half of the strain had been dealing with Rick's obsessive protection for nearly a year. It was nearly enough for him to go to the hospital early just to get it over with.

He could hear Rick suck on his breath, once again trying to decide if Daryl did indeed need to go, but Daryl made quick work of distracting him. Groaning softly to himself, the hunter leaned over before pressing his lips to his husband's. "...I'm fine. Trust me. Wouldn't do nothin' without yah." The relief that swamped over Rick's face was enough to shed a bit of nervousness.

Lips feverishly pressed against his forehead in return, secure arms locking around his shoulders and his waist, a gentle hand resting beneath his, still holding onto his poncho, embracing the warmth beneath the fabric.

A prod greeted Rick, and his husband chuckled.

"Just stay in there a bit longer, sweetie. Can you do that for Mommy?"

God, Daryl _hated_ it when he used that word. He aleady had enough to worry about, he didn't need Rick sassing about his new role in their expanding family. His head rolled back, glaring at Rick from the corner of his eyes, but couldn't hold back his smirk.

His arm shifted to properly hold his swollen stomach, the poncho the only thing of his original clothing that would fit him any longer. Rick didn't fuss when he wore it, knowing he would be warm, even when he did go and fill their closet with maternity clothing, though that was mostly because Daryl refused to use them and stretched out nearly all of his shirts beyond repair.

It wasn't his best idea...

The constant squirming inside him had become a comfort, something he knew he would miss, but it was a small sacrifice to make. Tomorrow, this wasn't just going to be a project room. This wasn't where stuff had been casually set aside, knowing that they had plenty of time, only to realize weeks ago that they had nothing ready. This was going to be the nursery to their daughter.

And it had to be perfect.

Lips touched his temple as he leaned back against the waiting arms of his husband, closing his arms as he was enveloped within his warmth. Everything had been a state of panic the last few weeks, near constant false alarms, strange pains, realizations of forgetting important items... But now they could rest. Just for the night, though.

Rick's hand moved across his swollen stomach, attempting his best to soothe squirms and kicks underneath, and the movements slowed to nuzzles within moments. Of course she favored her father... Daryl let out a huff.

"Don't be like that, angel..." was the tease that whispered into his ear, and another kiss touched his cheek.

He faked a grimace at the touch, and Rick chuckled softly, warm breath brushing against his skin. The arms curled more securely, the hand now shifting to let his arm enclose around the swollen stomach.

"...Yah know that I wanted this room for the cats."

"I know."

"Asshole."

"Yes, I know."

This exchange happened often, and has been happening for the past six months. At first they had been unsteady, unsure if this time they would really succeed. There had been many attempts, some that were successful... to a point. By the time the fourth month came, it was gone. They had been trying for years at this point, and had been about to give up...

He remembered walking into this room many times, staring at boxes of baby clothes that had been unpacked, repaced, unpacked, then repacked again. He would touch the plushes they had picked out, a multitude of animals that begged to be held by a child. Then he would see the dust on the windowsill, then it gathered on furniture that they had put together. The worst was the crib.

The crib was the very first thing they bought. From the moment they knew, they had rushed out, smiling wildly, trembling with excitement, babbling about what color to paint the room, what else they should buy, see if Rick's parents still had his old rocking horse...

Then they had locked the door a few weeks later. It was too painful.

But this time... This time they were standing there, all three of them. This time it would be successful, it had to be. They were so close... And she was so strong...

Fingers touched his cheeks to wipe away the tears that had slipped from his eyes without his permission, and he immediately flinched away to try to brush them off himself. The hand intertwining with his own managed to catch him, though, and had gently turned his head to look back into beautiful baby blue eyes, the ones that he fell in love with the first time they met.

There was no sadness in his eyes, no pain. Only hope, happiness, joy... Love. Every time he looked into those eyes, it made his heart feel full again, made him feel alive.

Tears were brushed away gently by his thumb, before cupping Daryl's face with both their hands. "It's okay," was all he said, and it was all he had to say. It was two words that had been bounced around between them.

When he had been constantly vomiting, crying that he couldn't keep anything down and had to go to the hospital again. When they were told that their chances were slimming. When he would find Daryl in the bathroom, hearing him sob on the other side and already knew what had happened.

But those two words would bring him back. And the three that followed only cemented their need for the other. Lips touched the others gently, slightly damp with tears but yet the kiss was warm and comforting.

There they stood in the center of their finished nursery, the eve before their daughter would be brought into the world. It was the start of the life they had deserved long ago, but every moment would be worth it once they had their daughter.

They only separated when the squirming inside him became unbearable, and he couldn't help but wince into the arms of his partner, who soon flocked him with words of encouragement and love. Just a little longer... A few more hours. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from voicing his pain as she prodded her way against various organs, and he was once again reminded that he probably wouldn't miss this as much as he thought he would.

Not after she had found his bladder a few months ago.

Fingers slowly combed through his thick hair, soothing the anxiousness of te hunter that began to bubble up again. "...We should go back to bed. I won't let you tire out just because you can't stop nesting."

"Not fuckin' nesting... Just gotta make sure it's good."

The chuckle rumbled in his chest, radiating with warmth. "Whatever helps you sleep at night... Now come on."

The body moved a step back, but carefully. Arms were still held out just in case the hunter was unsteady still, since his balance had been mutilated within the last few months. Bunny slippers shuffled at first to keep himself upright, only to immediately pull himself into the warm embrace once more. The arms surrounded him just as they always had, and with careful steps, they walked back into the light of the hallway.

Daryl paused right at the doorway, and looked back wistfully. He knew that there was something that needed to get fixed, something that needed to be made ready... But the gentle tug on his body reminded him of his own exhaustion.

"Back to bed, sweetheart," was the gentle reminder in a hum against his ear, just enough teasing to make the hunter smirk and allowed himself to move again.

"...Rick?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"...The walls are the wrong fuckin' color."

"I know."


End file.
